Honorable John Zerwas, Chair, House Committee on Higher Education
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB119 by Flynn (Relating to tuition assistance for members of the Texas State Guard.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
The bill would amend the Education Code to provide graduate and undergraduate tuition and mandatory fee exemptions to the members of the Texas State Guard (TXSG) not to exceed a total of 120 semester credit hours. The exemption applies to resident statutory and designated tuition and mandatory fees at public higher education institutions, including general academic institutions, health related institutions, public community/junior colleges, and other two year institutions.
Provisions of the bill provide that the commander of the Texas State Guard may select no more than 50 TXSG members to receive the exemption each semester or academic term. To be eligible for the exemption, TXSG members must be a member of the TXSG for one calendar year and commit to serving for a certain number of years during and after enrollment in an undergraduate or graduate degree. The bill would require an individual who does not fulfill the service commitment to repay the amount of exempted tuition and fees back to the institution of higher education. The exemptions take effect in the Fall 2015 semester.
Provisions of the bill would result in a reduction in tuition and fee revenue to institutions of higher education; however, due to the limitation on the number of students eligible to receive the exemption each fiscal year, this amount is not considered to be significant across all institutions of higher education.
Local Government Impact
No fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.
Source Agencies:
401 Military Department, 403 Veterans Commission, 710 Texas A&M University System Administrative and General Offices, 720 The University of Texas System Administration, 758 Texas State University System, 768 Texas Tech University System Administration, 769 University of North Texas System Administration, 781 Higher Education Coordinating Board, 783 University of Houston System Administration